Longtime Hachette Book Group sales representative Conan Lee Gorenstein, 64, died suddenly on September 1, at his home in Brunswick, N.Y. Before becoming a rep, Gorenstein, had been the proprietor of the former Ten Eyck Book Store in Albany as well as the former Book End Shop in Troy. He was also a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.
On Gorenstein’s Facebook page, where his brother, Stuart Gorenstein, posted the news yesterday, a number of book people have already weighed in about his loss to publishing and to the New England community he served so well. Suzy Staubach, head of general books at the UConn Co-op in Storrs, called Gorenstein, “a star. . . . [He was] the only rep. in the whole wide world who baked treats for his buyers from the cookbooks he sold, who brought gossip extraordinaire, who shared his photos but never took invasive photos of you, who knew his books and told you why James Patterson was actually important to the health of the industry.”
“The loss of Conan Gorenstein is a shock and a huge loss for the company,” wrote Karen Torres, v-p of account marketing and retail operations at Hachette, to members of the company. “This was a selfless person whose every action exemplified professionalism to all. His generosity and good humor were always on display as was his friendship. Many of us were recipients of many of Conan’s baked goodies. He always managed to bring something to our sales conferences freshly baked from our very own cookbooks. His warmth and good spirits (he always had a joke to tell) will be terribly missed.”
Services for Gorenstein will be held on September 4 at 10 a.m. at the Beth Tephilah Cemetery, Belle Avenue, Troy, N.Y. Donations can be made to the Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York, 184 Washington Avenue Extension, Albany, N.Y. 12203.
